1154 



ORANGE 



ORANGE 



lows: Garey, "Orange Culture in California," San Fran- 

 cisco, 1882 ; Moore, "Treatise of Orange Culture in 

 Florida, Louisiana and California," New York and 

 Jacksonville, Third Edition, 1883; Manville, "Practical 

 Orange Culture: including the Culture of the Orange, 

 Lemon, Lime, and other citrous fruits as grown in 

 Florida," Jacksonville, 1883 ; Spalding, "The Orange: 

 Its Culture in California," Riverside, 1885. One should 

 also consult Wickson's "California Fruits," and the pub- 

 lications of the California State Board of Horticulture. 

 For an account of the Orange from the botanical 

 point of view, see Citrus. L H. B. 



ORANGE CULTURE IN FLORIDA. The foundation of 

 Orange culture in Florida was laid, it is believed, by 

 the accidental distribution of sour Orange seeds by the 

 Indians, who obtained the fruit from trees planted by 

 the Spaniards in early days, and which were probably 

 grown from imported seeds. 



These sour Oranges were carried from camp to camp, 

 and the seeds thus scattered through the northern and 

 central parts of peninsular Florida found congenial soil 

 and conditions in the open hardwood forests and live- 

 oak groves of that region, and in time formed wild groves 

 of great extent, always in places where more or less 

 protected from sun and radiation by towering live-oaks, 

 magnolias and similar trees. 



Sweet Oranges were grown to some extent for family 

 use even before the civil war, but in the absence of 

 transportation facilities were considered of no commer- 

 cial value. 



Between 1865 and 1870, however, the Orange trees 

 along the banks of the St. John's river began to attract 

 attention as a profitable investment, and a little later 

 an enterprising horticulturist bought a portion of a wild 

 grove in the interior, near Orange Lake, and budded 

 the tops of the sour trees to sweet varieties. The prof- 

 its were prompt and large, so much so that this pioneer, 

 who began with an investment of only $1,000, had a crop 

 valued at $231,000, for the year of the great freeze, 

 1894-5. 



Many of these wild groves were injured or destroyed, 

 however, by the removal of the protecting live-oaks, 



Indian river hammocks being justly celebrated for the 

 quality and abundance of the fruit, while almost every 

 kind of soil and exposure had its champions as best for 

 Orange culture. The winters for several years prior to 



1553. Tub-grown Orange tree. 



and being located on about the 30th parallel of latitude, 

 the Oranges themselves had to be marketed early in 

 the season to avoid destruction by frost. By 1880 culti- 

 vated groves spread over all parts of Florida where 

 railroad or steamboat transportation was accessible; the 



1554. Otaheite Orange in a pot. 



1880 were almost frostless, and the rains abundant all 

 the year round, so that the growth of well-cultivated 

 young groves was phenomenal, and the whole northern 

 half of peninsular Florida gave itself up to Orange cul- 

 ture with reckless enthusiasm it was estimated that 

 the Orange at 12 years of age would pay from 10 to 150 

 per cent interest on a valuation of $100 for each tree, 

 and in the case of individual trees even the highest 

 figure was sometimes realized. 



The first check to this state of affairs was received in 

 1886, when a three days' blizzard from the northwest 

 swept over the state and cut back or at least defoliated 

 all the Orange trees down to the 29th degree, and still 

 further south in all but the most protected stations. 

 This injury, however, was only temporary inmost cases, 

 and while much of the crop of 1885-6 was lost, there 

 was no diminution in the crop of the following year, 

 although the trees themselves had received an evident 

 check. 



From 1886 on, there has been a succession of frosts, 

 generally not sufficient to hurt old trees but enough to 

 destroy or seriously cripple nearly all the young groves 

 north of the latitude of Tampa, so that few, if any, new 

 groves have been brought into successful bearing north 

 of that point since 1886. 



In December, 1894, a still more severe northwest bliz- 

 zard defoliated all the trees as far south as the Manatee 

 river, and this was followed in February by another 

 similar freeze, which caught the trees covered with 

 tender shoots and young foliage, with active sap, and 

 killed most of them to the ground from Tampa north, 

 and, moreover, so enfeebled them from the repeatc'd 

 shocks that the majority were unable to rally, and are 

 to-day either dead or worthless. The loss to the Florida 

 Orange industry by this double freeze is reasonably 

 estimated at $100,000,000. 



The crop of 1894-5 was the largest hitherto produced, 

 and estimated at 6,000,000 boxes, each of 2 cubic feet. 

 The following year about 75,000 boxes were produced, 

 all from south of the latitude of Tampa, and the crop 

 has been increasing till that of 1900-01 is estimated at 

 1,000,000 boxes, 95 per cent of this coming from regions 

 south of Orange county, which just about reverses the 

 proportion observed "before the freeze." 



The following table was supplied by Mr. E. O. Painter, 

 editor of the "Florida Agriculturist," after consultation 

 with the officers of the Florida Fruit Exchange, and may 

 be relied on as substantially correct: 



